View source for UO:2000-05-30: Gordon “Tyrant” Walton interview with thechosen.com

=Gordon “Tyrant” Walton interview with thechosen.com=
<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: Thanks for coming<br/><br/>
<span style="color:purple;">Tyrant</span>: I'm tired and sick so be gentle!<br/><br/>
<span style="color:purple;">Tyrant</span>: :)<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: haha<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: OK<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: will do<br/><br/>
<span style="color:purple;">Tyrant</span>: Old too!<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: Shouldn’t it say EA.com_Tyrant<br/><br/>
<span style="color:purple;">Tyrant</span>: na!  I'm only doing that stuff temporarily<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: No excuses<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: All right<br/><br/>
<span style="color:purple;">Tyrant</span>: no one likes a whiner, you are right!<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: I've been accused of not taking these interviews seriously<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: So I’m going to start right now<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: No easy questions for you<br/><br/>
<span style="color:purple;">Tyrant</span>: Hit me.<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: To start, did you recently buy one of the 1.3 million Britney Spears albums that were sold?<br/><br/>
<span style="color:purple;">Tyrant</span>: Britney who?  (hope that answers the question)<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: Good answer.<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: Ok, so when's housing going in?<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: Tomorrow?<br/><br/>
<span style="color:purple;">Tyrant</span>: As soon as we feel the bugs are all killed and the service is ready to handle the load<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: Is that tomorrow?<br/><br/>
<span style="color:purple;">Tyrant</span>: We have been upgrading our infrastructure over the last couple of weeks even beyond what <br/><br/>
<span style="color:purple;">Tyrant</span>: we planned for UO:R, and the team has been working on bugs that have shown up on House Test<br/><br/>
<span style="color:purple;">Tyrant</span>: (thanks to everyone who plays there and helps us by sending stuff in)<br/><br/>
<span style="color:purple;">Tyrant</span>: My bet is we are about 2 weeks out, but it's only an estimate<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: Ok, not tomorrow. Nice of you to get a PR plug in there too!<br/><br/>
<span style="color:purple;">Tyrant</span>: We will do it during prime playing time on the weekend btw, so no one has to stay home from work<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: That I like.<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: I suggested that very idea 3 months ago<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: But nobody listened<br/><br/>
<span style="color:purple;">Tyrant</span>: Our peak loading won't like it, but it is the most fair thing to do.<br/><br/>
<span style="color:purple;">Tyrant</span>: Maybe someone did....<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: Hehe<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: So its all about fairness then?<br/><br/>
<span style="color:purple;">Tyrant</span>: Not always, but it is an element I weigh heavily and the team does also when looking at changes.<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: Wait a second, does that mean the castle/keep phase would be on a weekend?<br/><br/>
<span style="color:purple;">Tyrant</span>: I like to think it's more about "the greater good", but that can get you into trouble too.  :)<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: To me that only encompasses a small part of the population<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: No matter how you do it, Tyrant, people will be pissed<br/><br/>
<span style="color:purple;">Tyrant</span>: We are currently looking at Castles for only an hour, then larges and smalls the following evening.<br/><br/>
<span style="color:purple;">Tyrant</span>: There is a fair amount of pent up demand given the delays. <br/><br/>
<span style="color:purple;">Tyrant</span>: To be clear, larges the same night as Castles, then smalls the next night.<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: Yes there is. People have been patient. Not me, but people.<br/><br/>
<span style="color:purple;">Tyrant</span>: Patience is not one of the virtues of the UO audience.  :)<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: Ain't that the truth<br/><br/>
<span style="color:purple;">Tyrant</span>: We keep trying to teach it but we are failing miserably. <br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: So, how often do you yell at the Dev team everyday?<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: once a day? twice? once per hour?<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: Is it true you have a bull whip you carry around?<br/><br/>
<span style="color:purple;">Tyrant</span>: Rarely.  They work really hard on the stuff that needs to get done all the time actually.  It's just harder than<br/><br/>
<span style="color:purple;">Tyrant</span>: people realize, we have a lot of "friction" in making changes and getting them published.<br/><br/>
<span style="color:purple;">Tyrant</span>: No, I do have a cattle prod and a bazooka though.  :)<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: That was just a rumor I heard. :) Define "friction"<br/><br/>
<span style="color:purple;">Tyrant</span>: Making changes to the code base is tricky, doing sufficient testing to ensure that the fix/feature works as designed<br/><br/>
<span style="color:purple;">Tyrant</span>: without breaking something seemingly completely unrelated is more than difficult.<br/><br/>
<span style="color:purple;">Tyrant</span>: And we mess up on these things a lot (as everyone notices).  As we try to get better it slows changes down even more.<br/><br/>
<span style="color:purple;">Tyrant</span>: So we try and strike a balance between responsiveness and quality.  We don't get this right as often as we would like.<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: Years of having so many different chefs adding to the soup, eh?<br/><br/>
<span style="color:purple;">Tyrant</span>: More that it was not designed/written to be maintained.  Many parts of the code have in fact been completely re-written by <br/><br/>
<span style="color:purple;">Tyrant</span>: the Live team, but much more remains.  There was no plan for this to last the almost 3 years it has already.<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: Wait up. Two things: When UO first came out, it was said often that the code was "flexible"<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: and could be added to easily<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: Something else said often<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: is that UO is going to last "ten years"<br/><br/>
<span style="color:purple;">Tyrant</span>: The scripting code can be added to easily, and it has been (where to you think all that new stuff came from).<br/><br/>
<span style="color:purple;">Tyrant</span>: But it doesn't mean that it was documented or written to be maintained by anyone other than who wrote it in the first place.<br/><br/>
<span style="color:purple;">Tyrant</span>: Also, no one said 10 years until I got here.  :)<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: Want to go on the record and say 15?<br/><br/>
<span style="color:purple;">Tyrant</span>: Everyone in EA was surprised at one year and at two years that it was still alive, much less growing.<br/><br/>
<span style="color:purple;">Tyrant</span>: But they won't be surprised this September, as the picture is a little clearer.<br/><br/>
<span style="color:purple;">Tyrant</span>: Nope, I think 10 years is very achievable though, ask me in year 8.  :)<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: What’s this September? The third anniversary? Another expansion? The addition of Necromancy?<br/><br/>
<span style="color:purple;">Tyrant</span>: I'm not telling.  But we haven't given up working on UO at all.  More people are working on it now than there<br/><br/>
<span style="color:purple;">Tyrant</span>: were at the peak of UO:Renaissance. <br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: I hope you aren’t counting counselors in that number "working" on UO<br/><br/>
<span style="color:purple;">Tyrant</span>: Nope, I'm talking about developers (programmers and designers).<br/><br/>
<span style="color:purple;">Tyrant</span>: We just hired a bunch of new designers, all but one of which are players who we will announce next week.<br/><br/>
<span style="color:purple;">Tyrant</span>: (remember our designers code the scripts the main game systems are coded in)<br/><br/>
<span style="color:purple;">Tyrant</span>: Even though our execution leaves something to be desired, I hope everyone recognizes we are serious about improving the<br/><br/>
<span style="color:purple;">Tyrant</span>: game environment.<br/><br/>
<span style="color:purple;">Tyrant</span>: Including the game features, bug fixing, service levels, website, community relations and even (gasp!) marketing.<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: Sounds impressive<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: But I don’t like the marketing guys<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: I wasn’t asked to be on the inside cover of UO:R<br/><br/>
<span style="color:purple;">Tyrant</span>: It's all hot air until you see the results though.<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: So you are saying you are full of hot air?<br/><br/>
<span style="color:purple;">Tyrant</span>: Oops, oversight.  We could have bought you off so cheaply?  :)<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: One tower and I'll be your bitch<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: or something like that<br/><br/>
<span style="color:purple;">Tyrant</span>: Only results count is what I'm saying.  We should be measured by our actions only.<br/><br/>
<span style="color:purple;">Tyrant</span>: Fear is first in that line, sorry.  :)<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: OUCH<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: Ok, so since you are measured by actions, give yourself a grade for UO:R<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: A-F<br/><br/>
<span style="color:purple;">Tyrant</span>: It's a harsh but fair measure.  Why do you think I remain dissatisfied?<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: I just always thought you were a pissy guy<br/><br/>
<span style="color:purple;">Tyrant</span>: I'd give us a B- but only because I'm in a position for giving extra credit for the dedication of the team.<br/><br/>
<span style="color:purple;">Tyrant</span>: From an audience perspective, I'd give us a C.<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: Just average? You wouldn’t hear many gaming people rate their company thusly.<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: John Romero gave himself an A+ for Daikatana<br/><br/>
<span style="color:purple;">Tyrant</span>: We delivered most, but not all of what we had promised, and we should have done better (or promised less).<br/><br/>
<span style="color:purple;">Tyrant</span>: The reasons why are real, but not important to the audience.  It's not their problem the time we took on exploits for<br/><br/>
<span style="color:purple;">Tyrant</span>: example, or personnel issues, or whatever.<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: Maybe if you explained that, people would be more understanding<br/><br/>
<span style="color:purple;">Tyrant</span>: We actually thought we had it nailed until the last 6 weeks was the worst part internally.<br/><br/>
<span style="color:purple;">Tyrant</span>: Maybe, but I doubt it.  :)<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: Ok, enough of this wishy-washy stuff.<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: Back to the important things<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: How far did you get in U9? Past the install screen?<br/><br/>
<span style="color:purple;">Tyrant</span>: Never played it.  Haven't<br/><br/>
<span style="color:purple;">Tyrant</span>: Not interested in most single player games.  :)<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: Smooth answer<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: very smooth<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: Perhaps you were a politician in another life<br/><br/>
<span style="color:purple;">Tyrant</span>: Nope, just a programmer in over his head.  :)<br/><br/>
<span style="color:purple;">Tyrant</span>: in this life that is...<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: How many people you ban today? How many GMs are old enough to drink? How many are old enough to drive?<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: Answer in any order you like :)<br/><br/>
<span style="color:purple;">Tyrant</span>: On an average day 6-10 people get banned (maybe 50 put in suspension).<br/><br/>
<span style="color:purple;">Tyrant</span>: I know all but a couple of the GMs are old enough to drink (but not drink and drive).<br/><br/>
<span style="color:purple;">Tyrant</span>: Maybe all of them now, actually, I'll have to ask.<br/><br/>
<span style="color:purple;">Tyrant</span>: This is a 21 year state for drinking, you know.<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: I didn’t know, actually. I haven’t had a drink since my AA days in HS actually<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: I plan on visiting Austin in October<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: so you can, ya know, not make it to that luncheon<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: just like the last NYC one<br/><br/>
<span style="color:purple;">Tyrant</span>: (note to self, vacation in October)  <br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: haha<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: Ok, I promised you no "Who Wants to be a UO Millionaire" games<br/><br/>
<span style="color:purple;">Tyrant</span>: I avoid NYC whenever possible, something about being a Texas native I think.  :)<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: so we'll play a little word association<br/><br/>
<span style="color:purple;">Tyrant</span>: I'm afraid...<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: Come to NYC, I'll show you all the tourist-friendly parts in the Bronx...<br/><br/>
<span style="color:purple;">Tyrant</span>: yea, right...   I'm afraid in Manhattan, but that could just be the taxi ride that causes it.  :)<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: Wimp.<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: Ha, I got to call you a wimp...<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: *prays he isn't banned tomorrow<br/><br/>
<span style="color:purple;">Tyrant</span>: You can't carry in NYC, that's the problem!  :)<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: Everyone carries. Just not legally :)<br/><br/>
<span style="color:purple;">Tyrant</span>: haha!<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: Enough trying to change the subject<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: Lets start<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: First word:<br/><br/>
<span style="color:purple;">Tyrant</span>: It almost worked (grumble)<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: Everquest<br/><br/>
<span style="color:purple;">Tyrant</span>: Camping<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: E3<br/><br/>
<span style="color:purple;">Tyrant</span>: noisy<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: Lord British<br/><br/>
<span style="color:purple;">Tyrant</span>: Nice<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: Carly Simon<br/><br/>
<span style="color:purple;">Tyrant</span>: 70's<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: Shadowbane<br/><br/>
<span style="color:purple;">Tyrant</span>: Later<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: IGMs<br/><br/>
<span style="color:purple;">Tyrant</span>: I'm stumped.  Hmmm....<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: haha<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: Have you seen a real live one?<br/><br/>
<span style="color:purple;">Tyrant</span>: Sure, every day.<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: That rumor is confirmed<br/><br/>
<span style="color:purple;">Tyrant</span>: In game, only during Trinsic though.<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: Fair enough<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: UO3<br/><br/>
<span style="color:purple;">Tyrant</span>: Coming soon to a theater near you!<br/><br/>
<span style="color:purple;">Tyrant</span>: haha!<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: hehe<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: Wing Commander Movie<br/><br/>
<span style="color:purple;">Tyrant</span>: video<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: cheap answer :)<br/><br/>
<span style="color:purple;">Tyrant</span>: ok, I'll try again<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: Nah<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: Few more<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: Anarchy Online<br/><br/>
<span style="color:purple;">Tyrant</span>: Rots of Ruck!<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: ooohhh answered in Scooby voice to boot<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: Dev Board<br/><br/>
<span style="color:purple;">Tyrant</span>: chaos<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: my thoughts exactly<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: Bay City Rollers<br/><br/>
<span style="color:purple;">Tyrant</span>: who?<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: hahaha<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: BeeGees?<br/><br/>
<span style="color:purple;">Tyrant</span>: which era?<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: *Jinx sighs<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: I figured you'd know em better than I would<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: Oh well<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: Spoiled my fun.<br/><br/>
<span style="color:purple;">Tyrant</span>: darn!  Sorry!<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: Last one<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: Ultima Worlds errr something: origin<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: can’t remember the name<br/><br/>
<span style="color:purple;">Tyrant</span>: different<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: beta date?<br/><br/>
<span style="color:purple;">Tyrant</span>: when it's ready  :)<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: bah<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: I know you know<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: Moreover<br/><br/>
<span style="color:purple;">Tyrant</span>: actually, I don't<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: I know that you know that I know that you know that I know that you know the exact date<br/><br/>
<span style="color:purple;">Tyrant</span>: I know a plan, I don't know a date<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: And you aren’t talking, eh?<br/><br/>
<span style="color:purple;">Tyrant</span>: It won't go into beta until it meets some metrics and no one can completely predict that<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: ok, forget UWOO.<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: After housing<br/><br/>
<span style="color:purple;">Tyrant</span>: Factions!<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: and after factions (which look crappy right now)<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: what’s next?<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: (sorry, not hot on factions anymore)<br/><br/>
<span style="color:purple;">Tyrant</span>: Short term, mostly bug fixes.<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: a hint at whets the next 'big thing'?<br/><br/>
<span style="color:purple;">Tyrant</span>: We have some other items to add, but think 80/20 bugs.<br/><br/>
<span style="color:purple;">Tyrant</span>: It's really, really big.  :)<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: ok, a little more of a hint?<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: please?<br/><br/>
<span style="color:purple;">Tyrant</span>: But quite a ways off.<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: pretty please?<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: sugar on top?<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: E3 girl on top?<br/><br/>
<span style="color:purple;">Tyrant</span>: You are just trying to make a Tyrant happy, right?<br/><br/>
<span style="color:purple;">Tyrant</span>: I love saying NO! after all.<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: I'm trying to bribe you for information like any other good fan site operator would<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: Oh well, guess I'll go bribe Jeff Anderson instead...<br/><br/>
<span style="color:purple;">Tyrant</span>: No go, sorry.  We have not finished with UO is all I'll say.<br/><br/>
<span style="color:purple;">Tyrant</span>: Get him!<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: hehe<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: Well, its vacation time<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: Thanks for taking the time out to chat<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: I appreciate it<br/><br/>
<span style="color:purple;">Tyrant</span>: No problem, thank you.  Now I have to find out what the Bay City Rollers are.<br/><br/>
<span style="color:lightblue;">Jinx</span>: (Editors Note: This interview has been edited for your sanity. It was also edited to remove something Tyrant said because he can’t say those sort of ‘bad’ words and still receive a PG-13 rating. I also removed what Tyrant said about the cat population in Skara Brae because it was boring. Tyrant will allow me a follow-up interview after housing goes in to discuss UO:R once its been, like, completed. So figure October or so.)


References:
* http://web.archive.org/web/20010406015717/http://thechosen.com/TyrantInter.htm